


A Warrior's Dress

by altilis



Category: Thor (2011)
Genre: Community: kink_bingo, Gen, Genderplay, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-05
Updated: 2012-07-05
Packaged: 2017-11-09 06:16:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/452261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/altilis/pseuds/altilis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sif is a woman and a warrior, and Loki reacts to both in different ways. Set before Thor gets Mjolnir and before Loki chops off all of Sif's hair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Warrior's Dress

**Author's Note:**

> True to form, my first KB fill for the season is mostly nonsexual and gen. Huzzah.

Thor wasn't the only one Loki watched from his little window above the training grounds.  
   
While Thor craved the company of others to duel against, going so far as to pester Loki when he lacked competition, Sif came to the grounds whether rain, snow, or shine, practicing with sword, staff, or bow, with or without company. Her dedication was admirable to the point where Loki could almost tell the time by it, but it is still…strange.  
   
On a warm day of spring when the snow around the fields had all but melted, Loki abandoned the pretense of studying shadow conjuration and simply stared out the window to watch her train. Today she had the short sword, but also half a set of armor: mail that hung loose around her form, vambraces too big for her forearms, a chest plate strapped awkwardly over her thin shoulders. Sif stepped, jabbed, and sliced with practiced ease, dodging around a self-healing training dummy that bent and shook under the force of her blows.  
   
But despite her long blond hair, the armor jostling around her made her look like a boy striving too hard to be a warrior, and the ill fit impeded her natural agility, making the entire lone display quite—comical. Loki allowed himself a chuckle, this being one of the few times he could laugh at her and not receive a gauntlet to the face.  
   
\--  
   
At the next dinner Odin hosted with all of his lords, Loki saw Sif seated with her parents not more than five rows down the long table. This time, she wore a long dress of midnight blue with sparkling gemstones woven into the shoulders and upper part of the sleeves. Yet for all the feminine elegance it gave her, Sif looked equal parts sullen and defiant, just like she did at the last dinner in the last ridiculous dress, and the noble occasions before that.  
   
Briefly, the thought of her fighting in her mock-armor entered Loki's thoughts, and it granted him enough amusement and courage to smile at Sif when she glared at him. For a brief moment, he could see the confusion flit across her face, which made him grin, until she flung an entire spoonful of pickles at him.  
   
\--  
   
Weeks passed and the spring stretched onwards. The fields were covered in wild flowers, and the trees were heavy with blossoms, including those around the training field. In the afternoon, after Thor had roped him into a duel (with the staffs this time, Loki got to pick), they lounged in the shade of these trees. Thor lay stretched out on the grass, staring up through the blossoms towards the afternoon sky, his muscular bare chest rising and falling as he caught his breath. Loki (fully clothed and less preoccupied with showing off) sat against the trunk, enjoying the cool breeze but not so much the dull, hot ache in his arm. His brother never did well understand the difference between _spar_ and _battlefield melee_ …  
   
"Thor!"  
   
Thor sat up to Sif's shout, as if on command, and Loki didn't even have the time to spare a jealous thought on that—he saw her crossing the field towards their shade and felt equal parts aroused and terrified when he saw her outfit. No longer was her armor hobbled together from the scraps in the training room, but tailored and forged to her specifications. The cloth and steel mimicked familiar plate armor but curved to her chest, never shying away from the fact she was a woman, while the grooves in the metal curled around her torso like the accents of a silver dress. There was nothing awkward about this ensemble, nothing for Loki to make a snide remark about, and his own ensuing silence horrified him.  
   
"Sif!" Thor stood to greet her. "A fine suit! Have you come to test it against my strength?" He sounded—and looked, with that ridiculous grin—giddy at the prospect, already grabbing the practice staff off the grass.  
   
"Of course," she grinned as well, and walked over to grab Loki's from where it leaned against the tree. "You're welcome to try your magic, too, Loki."  
   
"I think I'll pass, Lady Sif," he said with a tight smile, and stayed where he was as Thor and Sif stepped into the practice circle. Thor held back as much as he normally did, and Sif moved with the same light-footed agility Loki saw her use during dances and dinners, when she played her part for her parents. Despite wearing her steel, wielding the staff, sparring with Thor, Loki had to admit that she didn't necessarily seem any less lady-like here, but maybe even more, now that she had a smile on her face.

**Author's Note:**

> Also at [Dreamwidth.](http://altilis.dreamwidth.org/35931.html)


End file.
